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Tour De Cryx – The Goreshade 3 Ruin Nation – Midpoint

It has been some time since i introduced my plans to play a few games with Goreshade 3 and I’ve only managed to get a pair of games in with him. I’m still looking strong with a bit more free time coming up here (vacation, ect). Lets get right to it!

During the writing of the articles and the lead up to playing Goreshade 3, I had a set of lists I was looking forward to playing. Shortly thereafter, though, someone brought up a list very different from what I had been playing: A Dark Host double Bane Rider list. On a lark, I decided to play the first game, and after that a second, with the Dark Host list because its so damned fun. I would love to get some games in with my Infernal Machines list, but the Cryx CID is also here for the Black Fleet (Ghost, Slaughter and Scourge combined) so the likely hood is that I won’t get to them during the testing, which makes me a touch bleak. That said, Goreshade 3 has been a blast.

First Impressions

Goreshade does what he has always done, he just has a new approach to it. He’saiming for assassination while working on attrition through mockery of life. His jacks are efficient, his spells are good, and he’s able to protect himself or others through his use of defensive tech. He has a very solid game-plan.

The list I played, The Chasing the Dragonfather list, was something I’d not come up with on my own. I had had an idea for an all cavalry list, back in the days before we had themes. It had the core concept of the list: Goreshade 3, Darragh Wrathe, and two full units of Bane Riders, but that was it. I’d not wanted to use a Kraken or a Wraith Engine in the list at the time.

Both games I’d played were into the guns of the Grave Diggers list. First against Sturgis, then against Seige 1. Both had interesting aspects that made the list seem extremely effective.

The “new” bane riders are really good, and I like where they sit in the list. With Prowl and occultation, I can almost always keep both units safe from the bottom 1/Top 2 gun reprisal or scenario blitz that opens every game, preparing them for a solid counter attack that allows me to get good position. Even jamming the units with running AD models didn’t really pan out well, as the order of activations of cavalry can manage to free each other in order to get them deep into a unit that is blocking them, and if any damage does happen to be taken, vengeance will clear up the units right nicely. Bringing back models after the unit goes and putting them in safe places to get vengeance and a charge off the next turn can give the opponent fits, too.

What really makes the riders sing, though, is Darragh Wrathe. I cannot say enough good things about him in this list. The hardest part about him is positioning the rest of the army so that it gets the death ride. Bane riders and Wraith Engine running 15″ is hilarious, getting Goreshade 3 to walk 9 and then repo 3 is great, and Tartarus running 11″ is simply amusing. Its been a great way to get just that little edge of positioning that the Riders lack with only a speed of 7.

The Wraith Engine has been a surprise in the list, because I thought it was geared towards one roll (keeping the riders alive) but I have been using it for another completely. Making a model that gets to activate that turn has really been a powerful tool in getting the assassination off with Goreshade 3’s feat. simply running to engage the caster, or even charging them if I have a nice line, makes the feat surprisingly applicable even without my standard Blackbanes Feat Delivery System ™. Using the new wraiths he makes always feels like value, but with Goreshade, it feels so much better.

The Kraken, for me, has always been an assassination piece because of everything it brings to the game for cyx that it normally doesn’t get; guns, fast threat range, and powerful individual attacks. This is accentuated in the list by being able to have both a Stationary target and Infernal Machine on the board, enabling the giant bastard to have his pick of the table. I love the new tough with this guy, too, because knocked down models can’t check. This means that if I have three knocked down models in threat range, I can just wander over, scoop all three into the meat grinder, and then kill shot on the last one for sweet, sweet POW 10 blasts. I love it.

Finally, we get to the three solos, who aren’t the heart of the army, but who provide much needed support to many of the models therein. The Necrotech hovers behind both the Wraith Engine and the Kraken, ready to provide support, and the machine wraith tried to hang back and be ready for the feat. Tartarus is the one with the most fiddly positioning, because I want him to be near the unit that is going to activate first in my turn, and then move later to the second unit of riders to provide that +1 bonus that everyone loves so much.

That list is excellent, to be honest, and I don’t know what I wouldn’t like to face it with. It has a a great amount of flexibility with targets for all the models, and can push to threaten the scenario really hard. I wouldn’t change this list at all, that I can think of, it just works.

That said, as I write this, the Black Fleet is in its testing phase, and they have done some drastic and, I believe, heavy handed changes to the models in Ghost Fleet. This is really worry some, so I want to test the list out with Goreshade 3. It was something I wanted to try since I was shown the list, and now seems to be the perfect excuse! I’ll try to get at least two games in with it.

I’ll definitely be putting a battle report or two up on the boards, likely by the time this article is out, so look for em!

It does make me sad that I won’t be able to take the Infernal Machines lists out for a spin, because I think there is something there, but there isn’t enough time in the Tour. Thankfully, I like Goreshade 3 enough that I will come back to him some time and get games in with the lists.